PUBG Drops Its Lawsuit Against Fortnite Creator Epic Games

The team behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has dropped its lawsuit against Fortnite developer Epic Games.

The South Korean court case was concluded via a letter of withdrawal sent to Epic Games Inc. from PUBG Corp. on Monday.

Bloomberg reports that the case is now closed “according to the website of the local court system.”

It was revealed in May this year that PUBG Corp. had filed a copyright infringement suit against Epic Games.

Originally filed in January, the injunction saw PUBG Corp. seeking damages from Epic, accusing the developer of copying its flagship title with Fortnite: Battle Royale.

PUBG Corp. alleged that Fortnite copied the core elements of its game, including the user interface and items, constituting an infringement of its copyright.

The now-dropped case was distinctly murky, especially due to the fact that the battle royale genre did not start with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Fortnite is also considered by some to be distinguished from PUBG’s more realism-focused experience by its building system and cartoon style.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has been live since March 2017, but its popularity and player base has slumped in recent months, which is mostly attributed to the popularity of its main competitor in the genre, Fortnite.

Fortnite originally started out as a paid zombie survival game which is now referred to as Fortnite: Save The World, after its free-to-play battle royale mode blossomed in popularity soon after its launch in September 2017, mere months after the launch of PUBG.

Fortnite has a number of aces up its sleeve that has allowed it to achieve mainstream appeal. Epic’s free-to-play battle royale title is available on nearly every console including the Nintendo Switch, making it more accessible to the public.

The already-complicated court case was further convoluted by the fact that both companies are owned in part by Chinese gaming company Tencent, as well as the important fact that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds runs on Unreal Engine 4, which is owned by Fortnite developer Epic Games.

Both parties are yet to comment on this apparent conclusion of proceedings.